Gabe Leifer and Yeshiva are well beyond the point of shooting for mediocrity. Yeshiva athletics photo

By Ryan Scott
D3hoops.com

When Elliot Steinmetz, an alum and former player, took over Yeshiva University’s men’s basketball program six years ago, there were a lot of questions.

“A lot of people asked why I’d give up a successful high school program for a place where the goal is mediocrity,” says Steinmetz. “I told them, ‘that’s not my goal.’”

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Steinmetz went all in. A lawyer, he left his job to start a commercial real estate firm that would allow him the flexibility to coach. Yeshiva holds practices at 6 a.m. and video sessions after dark to allow Steinmetz to continue working full-time.

“It was an opportunity to be at my alma mater. It was an opportunity to represent my faith, to do something bigger than the sport or the school.”

Steinmetz sold the vision to Jewish basketball players from around the world and hit pay dirt when this year’s senior class gathered on Yeshiva’s campus for the Red Sarachek Tournament. The annual event brings together the best Jewish high school basketball teams in the U.S.

Senior Daniel Katz explains, “Me, Simcha Halpert, Kevin Bokor and a couple others, we got together at the Saracheck Tournament and talked about changing the program, changing the culture.”

Adds Halpert: “Elliot really sold us on the dream of what we could be when we were seniors, the pride we could bring to the Jewish people. We could win championships; we have that ability. It’s really unbelievable that it’s finally happening.”

The Maccabees made an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018, losing to York (Pa.) in the first round under a cloud of chaos, as leading scorer Bar Alluf had his eligibility challenged. Alluf was eventually cleared and returned to the team this season, but has filled a more supporting role as Yeshiva’s level of depth and talent increased.

“The NCAA Tournament completely changed the mentality of the school and the culture of the team,” says Steinmetz, “It has broadened our recruitment in a big way; we’re getting calls from good players that would not have been in our world or on our radar otherwise.”

One of those players is sophomore leading scorer and Skyline Conference Player of the Year, Ryan Turell, who scored a career high 41 points in the first round against WPI on just 16 shots. Turell passed on multiple scholarship offers to continue his education and play basketball for Yeshiva.

“I wanted to play high-level basketball,” says Turell. “And I wanted to stay religious.”

A 6-7 point guard, Turell added 25 pounds of muscle in the offseason and has the highest field goal percentage of any backcourt player in the country. “This year I tried to focus on getting to the rim more.”

Ryan Turrell's size makes the 6-7 guard difficult to match up with, especially on the perimeter, where he is a 46% shooter. Penn State-Harrisburg athletics photo

That slashing ability has added an extra dimension to an already pretty dynamic Yeshiva offense that overwhelmed opponents with Halpert on the outside and Gabe Leifer in the paint.

Leifer, a D3hoops.com Preseason All-American, who spent time in Israel before starting at Yeshiva, is listed as a senior, but has one year of eligibility remaining. He averaged 16 points and 14 rebounds per game during the season and secured his fourth career triple double in the Macs second round victory over Penn State-Harrisburg. That scoring average has gone down as the season progressed and the rest of the squad came into its own.

“I’m averaging seven points in the tournament,” says Leifer. “But we’re scoring 102. If I scored seven points in November we wouldn’t even hit 80. I’m glad to have less of a burden; it’s a testament to the coaching and how Elliot’s gotten everyone to buy into the system.”

That efficient Yeshiva offense is predicated on motion – both the players and the ball. Lots of quick passes and cuts create driving lanes, open shots, and often easy buckets. The Macs are first in the nation in field goal percentage and trail only Greenville in assists per game. They also hit more than 40% from three as a team.

That offense runs into the nation’s best defense in Randolph-Macon this weekend. The Yellowjackets allow just 57 points per game, about 30 below Yeshiva’s average. This is quite literally the proverbial unstoppable force vs. the immovable object.

Yeshiva hasn’t yet seen much video of Randolph-Macon, but their reputation and ranking precede them. “I caught one game,” says Leifer. “They certainly looked like a team that deserves to be in the top five. They’re a great defensive team and we have the capability of defending. If everyone gets stops on defense, the better team usually comes out on top.”

Steinmetz notes that Turell has improved most on the defensive end this season. That may prove useful if he’s assigned to cover Randolph-Macon’s Buzz Anthony, the driving force of a well-tested and confident team. R-MC is certainly the favorite at home, but they won’t be facing a happy-to-be-here Cinderella either.

“We all believe that we have a chance,” says Katz. “They have some great guards, some great bigs. We’ve got one of the best bigs in the country; we’ve got the best player in the country at point guard. I know we’re going against Buzz Anthony, but I’ve seen him play and I’ve seen our point guard. I like our chances.”

“Two years ago,” says Leifer. “We would’ve been going crazy to [make the second weekend]. I’m not going to say we expected to be here, but we’re not surprised. We belong here.”

Part of that success is pure unselfishness. Yeshiva talks about playing for letters, not numbers – one letter in particular: W. Any of five or six different players could lead in scoring on any given night and the team has gotten excellent at finding the hot hand. Guys don’t compete for buckets and their efficiency leaves plenty of shots to go around. As long as the ball is moving, Yeshiva is very dangerous.

They won this week despite having to prove, over and over, that “dangerous” was just a metaphor. Johns Hopkins’ Goldfarb Gymnasium was empty of spectators for all three games this weekend due to fears around COVID-19. A student and a rabbi who teaches classes at Yeshiva both tested positive last weekend and Yeshiva’s first-round game was delayed while all parties were satisfied that proper medical due diligence had been done.

“There have been no confirmed cases on campus,” says Steinmetz, emphasizing the associated individuals in question have been away from campus for some time. “We’re going to keep the guys away from campus this week, but that’s largely for optics.”

Yeshiva was already off Monday and Tuesday for Jewish holidays and the team will leave Thursday for Virginia. “The school is taking extreme measures to keep everyone safe,” says Halpert. “The team is fine. I don’t know anyone who’s been affected, it doesn’t really feel close to home. It’s a shame our fans weren’t able to see our games in person last weekend.”

Many fans, friends, and family members traveled to Baltimore even after they found out about the ban, just to support and celebrate the team’s accomplishments. The Maccabees have a huge international following among the Jewish community, with tens of thousands watching games online. They have truly become the rallying point Steinmetz envisioned his program being at the outset.

“I’m proud of all the basketball accomplishments, of course,” says Halpert. “I’m most proud of what we’ve done for the Jewish community, the little kids who come up to us after games, the texts, the emails, the kids we’ve made a difference for. It’s more than just basketball.”

Although not every member of the team practices their faith in the same way, the devotion to sabbath observance and the NCAA’s unwavering willingness to accommodate religious requirements helps put basketball in the proper perspective. Rearranging game times might create inconvenience, but it enables full inclusion and respect of non-athletic interests in line with the Division III philosophy.

“We have always faced some adversity as the Jewish team,” says Leifer, referencing anti-Semitic comments that have thankfully become fewer as the team’s profile has increased. Adds Steinmetz, “I believe the biggest way to fight hatred and bigotry is education, is putting yourself out there in front of people and athletes are the greatest spokespeople for that.”

There have been a lot of doubters of Yeshiva basketball. Whether it’s the small conference or the inconsistencies of last season or simply the novelty of a team that doesn’t always look or act like all the others, the Maccabees have proven they belong on the court, win or lose – they just don’t expect the run to end here.

“Our goal this year is just to keep it going,” says Turell. “We have one of the most unique offenses in the country and if we run it well, no one can stop us.”

Is that true? This Friday at Randolph-Macon, the whole world will find out.